1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a transient-to-digital convertor, and more particularly to a transient-to-digital convertor generating digital codes according to an electrostatic discharge (ESD) pulse.
2. Description of Related Art
An electrostatic discharge (ESD) event is an important reliability issue for integrated circuits (ICs). ESD protection is also a critical reliability issue for ICs. As semiconductor processes advance toward deep sub-micron manufacturing, scaled-down devices and thinner gate oxides are more vulnerable to ESD stress. Generally, the IC chips must have the ability to withstand certain levels of ESD of high stress in machine mode (MM) or in human body mode (HBM). The issues result from strict reliability test standard requirements, such as system-level ESD tests.
The additional noise filter networks, such as the decoupling capacitor, transient voltage suppressor (TVS), and/or current-limiting resistance, are often used to improve the system-level ESD immunity of microelectronic products. The system-level ESD immunity of CMOS ICs under system-level ESD test can be significantly enhanced by choosing proper noise filter networks. However, the additional discrete noise-bypassing components substantially increase the total cost of microelectronic products. Therefore, a need has arisen by IC industry to propose a novel chip-level solution which meets high system-level ESD specification for microelectronic products without additional discrete noise-decoupling components on the microelectronic products.